拟 (nǐ): to draft; to draw up

Meanings

1 to draft; to draw up
2 to plan; to intend
3 to simulate; to imitate

Characters

拟

ni

to draft; to simulate

Examples

我拟了一份合同草案。

Wǒ nǐ le yī fèn hétong cǎo'àn.

I drafted a contract.

公司拟在下月推出新产品。

Gōngsī nǐ zàixià yuè tuīchū xīn chǎnpǐn.

The company plans to launch a new product next month.

Tips

usage

拟 is a literary/formal character that appears in many compounds: 拟定 (draft/finalize), 模拟 (simulate), 虚拟 (virtual — as in 虚拟现实, virtual reality). On its own it sounds very formal, like writing official documents.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left-side hand radical, three strokes condensed from 手. Indexes 拟 in the action family with 打 to hit, 拉 to pull, 推 to push. Here it suggests deliberate handling — drafting, sketching, working something out. 拟 means 'to draft, plan, intend to,' all hand-shaped efforts.

phonetic

以 yǐ

by means of; with (here phonetic)

Right 以 supplies the sound — yǐ shifts to nǐ through a regular y-/n- alternation in Old Chinese reconstruction. The traditional form 擬 used the much busier phonetic 疑 yí; the simplified swap to 以 keeps the rough sound while cutting stroke count dramatically.